Things you learn when renovating your whole house.

[Seth1968]

Hello.

I'm on my third year of renovating my whole house which included building new walls, closets, gutting the kitchen, bathroom, etc. Anyway, this thread is dedicated to all those who are considering the same.

Things you learn with a first time DIY whole house reno:

1) What the hell was I thinking?

2) It will probably cost twice as much as you thought.

3) It will probably take twice as long as you thought.

4) It's not "just paint". There is indeed different qualities of paint.

6) They get ya on all the little stuff. For example, flooring is reasonably priced, but it's an eye opener to see the price of matched stair nosing, transition strips, etc.

7) Two coats of "Rapture Red" will suffice if you like the patchy look. It took me four coats to get an even finish.

8) Learn to make dust your friend.

Much more to come...join in:)

[2.2vtec]

I'm revonating my basement and I never realized that the little things like bathroom fixtures and door knobs, doors, all cost so much to buy. It's cost me 2,000 dollars just in labour to install baseboard, casing, and doors...sheesh and materials of about 2400 too.

[89coupe]

Hire C_Dave45 to do your tile, he is super affordable I hear!

[Euro_Trash]

We are planning on renovating our main floor in April - new hardwood, paint, rock features, staircase, etc. I'm looking forward to it (but not the bill at the end) :thumbsup:

[Kloubek]

#6 is true for sure! I can't believe how much trim strips cost for laminate flooring. If you think it is cheap to do stairs - guess again... you almost have to remortgage your house to do it.

What else I've learned: I am no electrician. I've electrocuted myself twice and caused sparks to fly more than a couple of times. So far, haven't created any fires.

I'm currently reno'ing my basement. I'm getting someone to do that part for me. I cannot be trusted.

[Seth1968]

- Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Example:

About to lay engineered hardwood flooring in a bedroom addition built by the previous owner. I pulled up the old 70's shag carpet to find the level of the floor was off by up to 3/4" in various areas :banghead:

Ended up having to shim in a new sub floor.

[Tomaz]

No matter how well you planned, something always goes wrong.

Building/Renovating my shack was going peachy, then the boiler blew for my in-floor heating, and the hot water tank corroded out adding an extra $4000 to the project (Doesn't seem like much, but my project was only supposed to be $10,000).

Drywall/Mudding does not take 2 or 3 days. It takes a week when doing it yourself.

Tools break and they are not cheap.

"contemporary" means a lot less product for a hell of a lot more money.

Measure twice, cut once.

"Tool Rental" means buying what you need from home depot, then returning it when you are done. :bigpimp:

[Seth1968]

Drywall/Mudding does not take 2 or 3 days. It takes a week when doing it yourself.

I didn't put that in my original post, as it would induce my drywall nightmares.

It turned out looking great, but I couldn't believe the time and effort it takes to properly fill in a seam.

[Idiot Stick]

I had to reno a basement room in my place and I learned VERY fast how inexperienced I was. I had my father come up and teach me as we went. There was flooding and the floor laminate had to come up, and the original stuff was done extremely shitty.

I learned one very expensive lesson that month. If you have to rip up laminate, make SURE that the EXACT same stuff that you're ripping up is available. Otherwise be VERY careful or plan to redo the entire area. One corner of flooding turned into a giant basement reno. :|

[sxtasy]

Originally posted by Seth1968


I didn't put that in my original post, as it would induce my drywall nightmares.

It turned out looking great, but I couldn't believe the time and effort it takes to properly fill in a seam. Yup, I learned this as well, taping/sanding is hell

[topmade]

+ 1000000 mudding/taping SUCKS!!, hire someone to do this.

- Those "little things" definately add up.
- Basement floors and the main floor joists vary in height. I knew it wasn't perfectly even but I had some areas where there was about 1"-1.5" difference on a 12ft long wall. So make sure to measure from where your wall starts and finishes.
- Get the right tools for the job.
- Took about just less then a year from start to finish from working on it a few hours here and there and being lazy.
- Think twice before hanging anything. Had a buddy who hanged a picture where his pocket door goes and he wondered why the door wouldn't come out haha.

I do a lot of hardwood/laminate flooring installs and I've used matal step trims for the steps and they looked fine. If the steps are heading to the basement or something this should be considered cause it can save you a lot of money, helps from slipping and IMO looks perfectly fine and not cheap.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by topmade
+ 1000000 mudding/taping SUCKS!!, hire someone to do this.

- Those "little things" definately add up.
- Basement floors and the main floor joists vary in height. I knew it wasn't perfectly even but I had some areas where there was about 1"-1.5" difference on a 12ft long wall. So make sure to measure from where your wall starts and finishes.
- Get the right tools for the job.
- Took about just less then a year from start to finish from working on it a few hours here and there and being lazy.
- Think twice before hanging anything. Had a buddy who hanged a picture where his pocket door goes and he wondered why the door wouldn't come out haha.

I do a lot of hardwood/laminate flooring installs and I've used matal step trims for the steps and they looked fine. If the steps are heading to the basement or something this should be considered cause it can save you a lot of money, helps from slipping and IMO looks perfectly fine and not cheap.

I'll never tape again...hate it as well.
Pocket doors are always a source of amusement when people drive screws/nails through them.
x2 on the stair nosings. Upwards of $12 PER LINEAL FOOT with the pre-finished stuff. Thats almost $40 PER STAIR!! :eek:

I managed to do my whole set of basement stairs with the stuff...but would think long and hard about doing it again. Slippery as hell!! Every one of my family members have taken a tumble down them. Great idea, Topmade, on the metal trim instead. Looks nice though:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/Tile%20Work/pic-0683.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/Tile%20Work/pic-3154.jpg

[Seth1968]

- Despite the packaging label, there is no such thing as "Easily installs in 5 simple steps".

[gts_gurl]

I'm feeling the pain of all of the listed things above!! Trying to finish up 2 LONG years of renos :cry:

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by gts_gurl
I'm feeling the pain of all of the listed things above!! Trying to finish up 2 LONG years of renos :cry:

Hence the show "Renovation Nightmare" (or any other show along those lines), where a typical line is, "I just want to throw a match and burn it down".

A wise one once said, "If your marriage can survive a house reno, then the marriage can survive anything"

[kvg]

Living in the house makes it take that much longer:thumbsdow

[Tik-Tok]

Make sure you trace that wire your about to cut all the way back to the panel.... don't assume it's the same wire that you shut the breaker off for
It's easier to harass a fellow Beyonder out of side-job retirement, then to mud/texture the ceiling yourself (Thanks again Jay!)
Twice as long to finish? Fuck that, it'll never be finished, lol.
When installing networking cable, put conduit in, so you can easily pull newer/better cable through when the time comes years down the road
When wiring your whole house for networking, use cheap vacuum hose instead of official "conduit", it's half the price and almost identical

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
It's easier to harass a fellow Beyonder out of side-job retirement, then to mud/texture the ceiling yourself (Thanks again Jay!)


Speaking of which, if anyone is experienced with mudding/taping, PM me about about doing a garage

[Tomaz]

Originally posted by Euro_Trash


Speaking of which, if anyone is experienced with mudding/taping, PM me about about doing a garage


...you must be joking. :rofl:

[Euro_Trash]

Why is that?

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by sxtasy
Yup, I learned this as well, taping/sanding is hell

U need a pro for this.

Otherwise, it'll cost u a lot more buying shit trying to cover up bad seams.

[03ozwhip]

what i learned after renovating 3 homes pretty much top to bottom? build your next place so you dont have to renovate it.

ive done tile, laminate, paint, knock out walls, build new ones, drywalling, mudding, taping, electrical you name it i probably did it and my god im glad i got my home built fully developed because im tired of renovating.

[sxtasy]

Originally posted by Xtrema


U need a pro for this.

Otherwise, it'll cost u a lot more buying shit trying to cover up bad seams. the job I did actually turned out quite nice and after about four years still no problems. Mind you it probably took me twice as long as a pro would do it and if I had a big job to do I would probably hire somebody else to deal with it. Dusty and boring.

[seer_claw]

Originally posted by Seth1968
.

7) Two coats of "Rapture Red" will suffice if you like the patchy look. It took me four coats to get an even finish.


Tip for painting dark walls, have your primer tinted with half of the tint required for a full bucket full. It will help in reducing the number of coats required and will help even out the paint quicker.

[mr2mike]

I see this and agree with everything. Did a full redo of my 1950's basement suite. Back to the concrete walls, redesigned the layout, plumbing in concrete moved, electrical panel moved.

I didn't see anyone say, you may think its cut and dry, then you break through a wall and find out the scope of the task.

I didn't want to redo my exterior basement walls but I found out they were framed on 2x2's with wax paper for insulation. I figured this, as it was unreasonably cold in the winter, window casings give you a good idea too.

Friends who tell you reno's are easy.

a) Hired someone to do it.
or
b) Think a reno = replacing a vanity and painting the walls.

Replacing a vanity, painting, door handle changes, painting all fall into the category, DECORATING, to me.